Death toll rises in difficult conditions after earthquake

RESCUERS have retrieved more bodies from the rubble of homes and buildings toppled by a strong earthquake in Indonesia, raising the death toll from last Friday’s natural disaster to 78.

Despite heavy monsoon downpours, military engineers in the south-east Asian country have managed to reopen ruptured roads to clear access for relief goods. More heavy equipment reached the hardest-hit city of Mamuju and the neighbouring district of Majene on Sulawesi island, where the magnitude 6.2 quake struck early on Friday, Raditya Jati, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s spokesman, told media.

A total of 67 people died in Mamuju and 11 in Majene, another source said.

Power supplies and phone communications had begun to improve in the quakehit areas. Thousands of people were left homeless and more than 800 were injured, with more than half of them still receiving treatment for serious injuries, according to Mr Jati.

Nearly 27,850 survivors were moved to mostly makeshift shelters that have been lashed by torrential seasonal rains.